Blog Archives
Grab a Hold of the Vine for Your PR
It’s been nearly five months since Vine was introduced as a free iOS app and since then it’s become one of the most downloaded applications in the Apple App Store. Vine, introduced by Twitter in 2012, enables users to create and post six-second video clips that can be shared on social networking channels like Twitter and Facebook. 
The very idea of video creation is all about storytelling, while connecting and engaging viewers. But can you do that in only six seconds? Tribeca Film Festival founder Robert De Niro thinks so. In April, De Niro was asked about the effect of technology on the festival and filmmaking itself. He responded by calling Vine an “interesting thing,” and said:
“Six seconds of beginning, middle and end. I was just trying to time on my iPhone six seconds just to get a sense of what that is. It can actually be a long time.”
- Vine in the News: News outlets are getting in the Vine action, too. In February, Tulin Saloglu, a columnist for Al-Monitor and a New York Times contributor, successfully used Vine to capture terrorist attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey. By posting the videos to her @turkeypulse Twitter feed, Daloglu’s films were one of the first attempts to use Vine for journalism purposes.
- Vine + RyGos: Given Vine’s short form, its success in the world of memes is no surprise. Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal went viral last week, propelling creator Ryan McHenry’s following on Vine from eight followers to more than 15,000 (McHenry also has nearly 4.000 followers on Twitter now—we’re curious to know what the figure was before #RGWEHC hit) and no doubt sparking ongoing spoon torment for RyGos.
- Vine in the White House: Vine is also becoming political. On April 22, the White House joined the bandwagon, publishing its first Vine video through its official Twitter account by announcing the annual White House Science Fair.
As the app continues to gain momentum, we at DGC are cognizant of the need to begin leveraging Vine with our clients. When pitching media, Vine can be used to raise awareness of pending news in a fun, viral way—you can develop Vine videos to tease hints of potential news announcements to get media buzzing before a big launch. Since Vine only allows for six seconds of recorded footage, it caters to us PR pros looking to get a message across quickly and succinctly.
Vine can also help with clients’ social media channels like Twitter. For your next social contest, consider asking users to submit a Vine video, allowing you to grow your clients’ following by leveraging new and existing hashtags. You can even think about distributing a social media release with Vine videos embedded to give the campaign wider exposure and drive traffic.
Do you have more ideas on how Vine can be used by the PR industry? Let us know in the comments below!
SXSW 2013: Day 2 — Brand Fans, Yammer + Matthew McConaughey
DGC reporting live from day 2 at SXSWi 2013! The festival is in full gear, with early to mid-morning panels so packed lines were snaked around buildings and one-in, one-out policies were being enforced. We did manage to make a few sessions that boosted big names and big brands. Among them:
Brand Fans, the New Brand Marketers: Moderated by Mashable’s Todd Wasserman and featuring Facebook Creative Strategist Kevin Knight, PepsiCo’s Global Head of Digital Shiv Singh, and Frito-Lay’s Sr. Director of Brand Marketing Jen Saenz, this panel covered the rise of crowdsourcing, its merits, and how it’s disrupting traditional marketer/agency relationships.
PepsiCo has crowdsourced a number of brand initiatives, including Do Us A Flavor, a flavor naming and defining contest for Lay’s, and Crash the Super Bowl, a contest for user-generated commercials for Doritos.
Why crowdsource? It’s a way to engage consumers with a brand in a personal matter on their own terms, Saenz said. What’s more, at a time when consumers have their own media channels in Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it’s a natural way to extend reach and drive the all-powerful personal stamp of approval for a brand, Singh said. Wasserman asked if crowdsourcing – with its focus on the wisdom of crowds — lessens the need for ad agencies and marketing skills. Knight replied that great creative agencies makes strong emotional connections between consumers and brands, so the best ones will be able to use crowsourcing as a tool to make even better marketing.
Insights about Innovation: A “Fireside chat” featuring Mahalo.com CEO and Founder Jason Calacanis interviewing Yammer Founder and CEO David Sacks (also the former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal). This wide-ranging discussion covered Sacks’ views on the four big players in tech and what he looks for when funding a startup.
Sacks said he only wants to invest in companies that will overhaul an industry – his latest investment, Houzz, is an app for remodeling homes – and that the first question he asks of new products is: does it promote a behavior I can see consumers engaging in? When asked about copycat products and services in the tech world, he quoted the famous Picasso saying “Good artists borrow. Great artists steal,” and said that one of the greatest flaws in a product managers is excessive pride.
And lastly, a little Page Six-style gossip: SXSWi is teeming with celebrities. So far, our team has spotted New Girl’s Jake Johannsen, Two and a Half Men’s Chuck Lorre, Foursquare’s Dennis Crowley, Matthew Just Keep Livin’ McConaughey and one of this DGC’ers personal heroes: David Carr of the New York Times. Signing off for now …
A Social Media Life – Through the Lens of Vizify
Earlier in the year, we were introduced to Vizify, a content aggregator that visualizes who you are through the content you share on your social networks.
Seems simple enough – with so many social platforms for you to express yourself, and with digital data doubling every two years, this tool lets people easily “see” the highlights.
We were reminded of Vizify through Twitter’s 2012 Year in Review, a comprehensive look back at what made news through the year. The two tech companies have worked together to create a “Your Year on Twitter” feature, showcasing the words we tweeted the most. Some of the highlights won’t surprise you – mine certainly didn’t – but what was interesting to see was the volume with which things were tweeted within a specific time.
Below is a snapshot of @digennaro’s twitter through 2012.
While most of our words fit within our vertical, notice how all of our 63 #CannesLions tweets were within the month surrounding the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity?
Facebook also rounded up their biggest trends – and yours – in one handy place, with their “2012 Year In Review” while Google showed us what the 10 most Google’d things of 2012 were (cue guilty curiosities about Whitney Houston, Gangnam Style and Kate Middleton).
While we at DGC enjoyed taking this look back at our social chatter (and are upset at the lack of “Call Me Maybe” search queries!), we also used this opportunity to become more familiar with Vizify for our personal presences.
We like Vizify’s capabilities but believe some of the features in terms of images and quotes could use some tweaking before it becomes the “digital version” of yourself.
What do you think? Try it out for yourself and let us know in the comments!
Tech Talk: The Magical, Mystical, Wonderful World of Cloud
The cloud’s popularity has been gaining momentum as businesses continue to need ways to store, process and access information quickly. And as its reputation grows, we at DGC have wondered what effect the cloud has had—and will continue to have—on the public relations industry as a whole.
It may surprise you to learn that the cloud isn’t exactly a new concept for PR. Since the introduction of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter (both of which are cloud-based platforms—read the text box for more info!), we’ve been using these mediums to help leverage different forms of communication for both clients and consumers, including posts, blogs, tweets and everything in between. These tools allow us to create and disseminate clients’ media exposure quickly, efficiently and in real-time.
Social media sites aren’t the only cloud-based platforms the industry is using. Tools like Google Analytics help to gauge whether a clients’ website has incurred increased traffic during a news or product announcement. Other tools such as bitly—a URL shortening service—enable us to track a particular website’s stats through click-throughs. And as any PR professional will tell you, this kind of information is crucial to evaluating and reevaluating continued public relations efforts. 
The very nature of using cloud-based platforms helps to keep us—and our clients—informed during PR campaigns. In fact, we’re continually made aware of the kind of exposure our initiatives have had in the viral community (the public likes to voice its opinion, you know). And, cloud-based platforms allow us to respond to positive commentary or correct negative backlash.
As the PR industry continues to move forward, one thing’s for sure—identifying and using cloud-based platforms helps to increase clients’ reach and exposure. So, as I like to say: go, run, do…and get on the cloud!
Have you used the cloud in any of your PR initiatives? Let us know in the comments below.
Tech Talk: News Consumption in a Twitter, Facebook World
Where do you get your news? According to the recently released Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s State of the New Media in 2012 report, not Facebook or Twitter. While Facebook has made a concerted effort to expand its relationship with journalists and new organizations through Social Reader and Twitter has always been seen as a mini “newsfeed,” the numbers tell a different story.
The study determined that only 9% of digital news consumers regularly get their news from these social networks while 36% of people go directly to the publication’s website, 32% use search engines to get news and 29% use a news organizer site or app. These numbers rise to 52% when you look at people who “sometimes” get news from Facebook and Twitter – but that’s still drastically lower than the 92% who sometimes go directly to news sites and the 85% that use search.
Digging deeper into Pew’s State of the News Media, we learn that for the users who do get news from social channels, Facebook and Twitter function differently. On Facebook, for example, 70% of the news people read were from family, 13% from news organizations and 10% from non-news organizations that suggested a story to read. On the other hand, people on Twitter get 27% of news from organizations, 18% from non-news organizations and only 36% from family and friends.
While we had a bit of sticker shock at how low these numbers were, there is no denying that Facebook and Twitter should still be a part of your news distribution strategy. You just have to ensure that you’re using the channels to your advantage and sharing the news in a way that your audiences will take notice. As we shared last year, when you’re creating content for your social community you have to play to specific social audiences and should speak with an authentic voice, sharing relevant news and unique visuals to tell your brand’s story. Take the time to study how your audiences react to different posts and types of news. Experiment with continued personalization, visuals and editorializing of content to see how it boosts engagement across specific channels, then give them more of what works.
In time, we predict that there will continue to be an increase in the consumption of news from news sources across social media communities. But it’s clearly not there yet. So in the meantime, remember the power of personal connections. Don’t be afraid to ask for action from friends, family, colleagues and industry connections to spread the news and involve them in your company’s story.
The New Black? How Digital Ed Is Everything
Allison Kent-Smith, Director of Digital Development at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners
Day #3 got off to an early start (after a not so early night!) as we headed to see Goodby’s own Allison Kent-Smith, Director of Digital Development and resident educational evangelist for her panel, The New Black? How Digital Ed Is Everything. She was joined by Glenn Cole of 72andSunny, Matthew Brimer of the General Assembly and Giselle Schmitz of Facebook to discuss the importance of education in the advertising and marketing industries. Moderated by Lori Kent, the panelist shared their perspectives on the need to increase education and digital training as the industry evolves.
Matthew Brimer stated the importance of having a well-rounded skill set, pointing out the internet isn’t new and it’s surprising more people aren’t more familiar with using it effectively. Comparing the internet to a much older invention—electricity—he stated, “imagine if you had an electricity department at your company. Or said, I’m going to start a company, and we’re going to use electricity.” The internet has become almost as commonplace place as electricity, and there is a clear value in teaching your employees how to master it.
Digital education doesn’t just increase the employee’s value; it also benefits the company or agency as a whole. Implementing program that ups the level of talent within an agency allows it to better serve their clients. Goodby’s Ed Program (developed by Allison) takes it a step further by offering courses outside the agency to clients making them a more valuable partner and resource, which in turn can lead of business growth and positive PR—and who doesn’t like positive PR?
For more from Allison, you can check out her Fast Company article: We’re All Technologists Now: 6 Steps To Retraining And Reinventing Your Creative Talent.
We caught up with Allison and moderator Lori Kent after the panel for a few more insights on the importance of Digital Ed, which you can view here as well:
I Hope You Have The Timeline Of Your Life
Wednesday was another big day for Facebook. In addition to hosting its first ever Marketing Conference, which viewers could watch via live stream on the Facebook site, Facebook also launched its Timeline pages for brands. New features include an updated layout with a cover photo, the ability to edit content without having to open separate pages, and opportunities to add content that spans the course of the brand’s lifetime to date.
But how will consumers respond to this new brand page format?
Before Facebook launched brand Timeline pages, it launched personal Timeline profiles. Similar to the brand Timeline pages, users can upload cover photos, edit content in one place and add information to past years to create a more robust illustration of the entirety of their lives to date. Some people have jumped at the opportunity to update their profiles, while others have found the format to be confusing, overwhelming and miscommunicated.
“I’m not really using it,” says DGC’s Kendra Peavy. “Every now and then I take a peek, but I think more time needs to pass.”
DGC’s Erin Donahue feels similarly: “I still have no idea what Facebook Timeline really is. I don’t think it was communicated to users properly. Now one person’s page looks different from the next. I like that Facebook is evolving to meet the needs of consumers, but I wish it was easier to comprehend, and I wish there was some sort of guide for how Timeline works.”
Facebook’s mission is “to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” From the beginning, it has achieved this through constant growth, innovation and adaptability. In the grand scheme of things, Timeline is just one of many changes experienced by the Facebook community over the past eight years. So will people get used to these changes as they have in the past? Share your thoughts on Facebook Timeline for brands and people in the comments section below.
Taking Your Facebook Relationships To The Next Level
David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin may have showed the world that Facebook was created to help college students hook-up, but since then, “The Social Network” has evolved into a vehicle for interaction among its members, job recruiters, entertainment artists, academic institutions and even consumer brands.
Despite these open lines of communication, not all brands know how to effectively engage with their online audiences. Take Chapstick, for example, which late last year got itself into a “social media death spiral” after posting a weird image on Facebook and quietly removing negative comments left by viewers on its Facebook Wall. A bit passive/aggressive if you ask us.
With this in mind, the DGC team has compiled the following tips to help you and your brand avoid social media suicide:
- Don’t forget what you stand for. Posts on your Facebook page should be consistent with your marketing, advertising, news, etc. Make sure your Facebook strategy sets you up to achieve the same goals that you aimed to accomplish from day-one.
- No time like the present. Facebook continues to evolve and offer new ways for users to represent themselves online. Make sure you’re using the latest tools so you put forth a page that is relevant and creative.
- The power of Facebook compels you. Provide useful and interesting information for fans to react to and share. If you need an example, The New York Public Library’s Facebook page is the bee’s knees.
- READ. Your fans are constantly interacting with you on Facebook, so take a look at what they have to say. The easiest way to build brand loyalty is to let them know that you are listening.
- Keep it coming. Fans are more likely to stick with a brand’s Facebook page when the brand stays engaged—even if it’s just one post a day—so push out content on a regular basis and watch your network grow.
Do you have other tips for maintaining an active Facebook brand page? Share them in the comments section below!
For the Most-Viewed Super Bowl Ads, Few Touchdowns on Facebook and Twitter
This was originally posted on the Social Media Week blog
It’s pretty amazing when you think about it: 40 ads that ran during the Super Bowl have been viewed on YouTube more than 99 million times. That is almost 1 billion impressions. It’s daunting to try to imagine all the creative power that went into the ad-making and the subsequent zooming on the Internet as people viewed and shared the content.
But one company, PM Digital, has discovered that the ads with the most views on YouTube did not generate large increases in Facebook fans or Twitter followers, according to PM Digital’s Super Bowl Commercial Index. (Full disclosure: PM Digital is a client of DiGennaro Communications, where I work.)
The PM Digital Super Bowl Commercial index measures Facebook Fans, Twitter followers, and YouTube ad views for 40 brands that had ads in the game. The index tracks changes in engagement on the three channels from Monday, January 30, through Monday, February 6.
My DGC colleagues and the folks at PM Digital have been analyzing the statistics this week. While the YouTube popularity of the Super Bowl ads is staggering, other numbers leave us wondering if the ads were a touchdown or a fumble. And we couldn’t help but think that full integration between traditional advertising and social media has a long way to go. “
Indeed, brands use Facebook and Twitter to engage with people, advertise to them, offer them promotions and drive transactions on an ongoing basis. While brands with the most-viewed ads should feel satisfied about their YouTube results, they have not by and large recruited new fans and followers, thereby foregoing chances to engage with people who have clearly shown an interest in entertaining, branded content.
Key findings from the PM Digital Super Bowl Commercial Index include:
- Volkswagen, which led the Index in YouTube ad views, ranked #33 among the 40 advertisers in terms of Facebook fan increases. The German car maker had just a 1.58 % increase of from Monday, January 30 to Monday, February 6.
- Chevrolet, whose ads were viewed more than 11.2 million times, saw relatively large increases in fans and followers: 5.77% increase in Facebook fans and 14% increase in Twitter followers. The large Twitter increase is likely due to the company’s pre-game Twitter contest.
- The 10 most-viewed ads on YouTube had lower-than-average % increases in Facebook fans; the average fan increase was 12.28%. It should be noted that most brands saw single-digit increases. Huge increases in fans for Taxact.com (117%), the movie Act of Valor (160%), and Bud Light Platinum (119%) drove the Facebook average up; These three advertisers were low on the YouTube scale.
- Eight of the 10 most-viewed ads on YouTube had lower-than-average % increases in Twitter fans; the average was 5.53%.
|
YouTube Views, Facebook Fans and Twitter Followers |
|||
| Advertiser |
Ad Views |
Facebook Fan % Increase |
Twitter Follower % Increase |
| Volkswagen |
18,081,000 |
1.58% |
5.66% |
| Acura |
16,395,557 |
3.31% |
4.89% |
| Honda |
12,470,027 |
2.77% |
2.78% |
| Chevrolet |
11,217,440 |
5.77% |
14.01% |
| Audi |
6,168,365 |
2.92% |
4.10% |
| Hyundai |
4,595,629 |
1.26% |
2.22% |
| Bridgestone Tires |
1,568,676 |
5.68% |
1.30% |
| Toyota |
3,566,117 |
6.88% |
1.68% |
| Doritos |
3,133,904 |
8.90% |
4.91% |
| Pepsi |
2,861,886 |
2.34% |
0.17% |
| Top 10 Average |
4.14% |
4.17% |
|
| Average of All Ads |
12.28% |
5.53% |
|
Sally O’Dowd is a VP and group account director for New York-based DiGennaro Communications, which specializes in B2B communications for media, advertising and entertainment companies. Previously, she worked in Paris as head of content and social media strategy at MSLGROUP, the 22-country PR and events network of Publicis Groupe. She has also held senior communications roles at Arc Worldwide/Leo Burnett and Razorfish, following a career in journalism and public affairs.
5 TRENDS IN 2011 AND PROJECTIONS FOR 2012
Last week Time Magazine chose the Protestor as the most 
influential person of the year – no surprise given that 2011 saw technology-enabled social movements from Tahrir Square to Zucotti Park fundamentally change the way people organize and make their voices heard.
Marketers should take notice –thanks to social media and technology that’s more affordable than ever, consumers have a megaphone to voice their discontent with price hikes, unfair policies, and changes in venerable services (see Bank of America, Netflix, etc).
That’s why DGC named 2011 The Year of the Consumer Backlash – and considered it the top 2011 marketing trend. Check out four others that have us – and our clients – talking.
5 TRENDS IN 2011 AND PROJECTIONS FOR 2012
- Year of Consumer Backlash – In 2011 Americans were being heard louder than ever thanks to expanding communication channels (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Some organizations caved to demands such as Bank of America and Netflix, while others, such as Facebook, ignored the clamoring. In politics, backlashes reached a new level, as revolts fueled by Twitter, Facebook and blogs revolutionized governments around the world and in our own backyard.
- Madison Valley: From Pandora to Groupon and LinkedIn, IPOs of internet-based companies were hot in 2011 and show no signs of cooling in 2012, with Facebook and Zynga hinting at going public. As Madison Avenue becomes more closely tied to Silicon Valley, the opportunity for start-up media and marketing technology companies to get funded is greater than ever.
- Mobile Nation – 2011 was the year that the mobile space (with increased penetration of smartphones and tablets) saw true convergence—retail, music (internet radio) and TV with HBO Go and many other services. This will spell big opportunities for brands in 2012. Look for the smart ones to take a mobile-first approach.
- Bricks-and-Mortar and Digital Retail Collide — In 2012, expect to see more bricks-and-mortar stores incorporating digital into the physical shopping experience. We’ll see a rise in iPads/tablet devices used as kiosks in stores for inventory checks, online orders, and customized product builds (i.e. for shoes, bicycles).
- Everything is Social – In 2011, social media reached new heights and influence. Twitter and Facebook didn’t just keep FX’s American Horror Story from being canceled (thank goodness), it helped protestors overthrow governments! Social media also found a way to bring the traditionally “offline,” “online” through marketing efforts that infused TV (e.g., interactive TV advertising and social integrations during prime time TV) and radio (e.g., Spotify and Myxer Social Radio) with social elements. Also, look for social media to continue to alter the PR landscape, as communications professionals have more tools to listen and connect with influencers.
